EWING — The last time The College of New Jersey and Richard Stockton met Candace Vigo didn’t think she brought her ‘A’ game.

With the season on the line in the opening round of the New Jersey Athletic Conference playoffs the Lions got an A+ performance from their lone senior.

Vigo scored 13 points, grabbed five rebounds, had two blocks and four steals as the Lions advanced last night with a 69-57 win over Stockton on the Packer Hall floor before a good crowd.

The win is the first NJAC playoff win for the Lions since their championship season of 2008-09. The last two seasons it was Rutgers-Newark downing TCNJ in the first round.

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The victory sends the No. 3 seeded Lions (18-8) to Wayne to take on No. 2 William Paterson (19-6) in the semifinals on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The other bracket has last night’s winner between Rutgers-Newark (17-8) and Ramapo (17-8) going at it with top-seeded Montclair State (25-0).

The first 10 minutes between the Lions and Stockton (12-13) saw the lead change eight times. Then a run of four straight 3-point goals, including two by Tiffany DiTullo, sent the Lions to a 34-25 halftime lead.

The second half saw TCNJ open up a seemingly comfortable 55-37 lead, but twice the Ospreys got to within 10.

But, every time TCNJ needed a basket or a rebound there was Vigo to put things back on track.

“We want to go as far as we can go,’’ said Vigo. “The last game against them was a bad game and my teammates had to pick me up. I felt like I had to redeem myself. So, I had to do what I had to do.’’

She did it well and when wasn’t her it was DiTullo slicing into the comeback attempt of the Ospreys.

DiTullo and Angelica Esposito, who was 3-for-3 beyond the arc, each tallied 10 points. Kelly Roddy chipped in with seven rebounds, five assists and nine points.

Stockton was led by Che’Na Thompson with 24 points and 18 rebounds. Sara Farrell had 12 for the Ospreys. TCNJ has been the Ospreys nemesis as it has won the last four times the two have met in the NJAC playoffs.

“The game was neck and neck early and I knew a shot would spark up the team,’’ said DiTullo, of her two treys that broke things open in the first half. “I got two shots out of it and it was all we needed. As a team we need everybody to contribute.’’

It has been contribution by committee for TCNJ this season. They have seven players averaging from 6.4 (Liz West) points a game to the team leader (Rodd) averaging 8.7 markers a game.

“We came out well and did what we needed to do,’’ said TCNJ coach Dawn Henderson. “There were times our inexperience translated to being a little nervous. We were putting people in and out, but we got ourselves together.’’

One of those times saw TCNJ’s 57-40 lead evaporate to a 60-50 score with 4:48 left in the game. But, a Henderson time out and Lions regroup for the final run.

“I just told them to relax and don’t rush,’’ said Henderson of her message. “We were coming up with too many empty possessions. We needed to gather ourselves and settle the ship a little bit.’’

The Lions righted the ship and Vigo steered it home with DiTullo and a cast of characters directed it right to the semifinals.

LIONS LINES: TCNJ handed out 20 assists for the game on 22 field goals. …One of the top players for TCNJ’s next foe is former Steinert player Dana Jeter. Former Nottingham and NJAC Player of the Year BriAnna Lucas is an undergraduate assistant with the Pioneers.